STONINGTON: David L. Silk, 75, of Stonington CT, formerly of Haddam CT died with grace and peace surrounded by his family at his home on Friday, March 14, 2003. His is survived by his beloved wife Rosemary, two daughters, from a former marriage to Blanca Selleck, Laura Silk of New London and Elena Coffey of Marlborough. He also leaves behind a son-in-law Patrick Coffey and grandchildren David and Emma Coffey and Gabriela Silk. Additionally, he is survived by his brother Ted Silk and sister-in-law Lisel Silk of Marco Island, FL, and two nieces.
David was born in Haverhill, MA to Frank and Florence (Pike) Silk and grew up in Brockton MA. After he graduated from Brockton High School in 1945, where he was an outstanding football player, he enlisted in the Merchant Marine Academy in San Mateo, CA transferring to Kings Point Academy in New York for his second year. David completed his undergraduate education at Boston University majoring in Economics and then obtained his Masters degree in Latin American Studies. During his college summers he worked on Merchant Marine to subsidize his education. After earning his masters degree he moved to Sao Paulo, Brazil where he worked as a professor of English at the University of Sao Paulo. After one year he and a partner opened an English school in Sao Paulo, which they ran successfully for several years. He returned to the United States in the mid 1950’s and worked for Remmington. He transferred with his family to Geneva Switzerland and later to Bremen Germany and then to Chicago. David then went to work for Colt firearms Co. in Hartford CT and worked all over the world in international sales. He left Colt to found his own company CVA, in importer of replica muzzleloaders.
After he sold CVA in the early 1980’s he concentrated his time and energy in the pursuit of his passion – peace and justice. He had a love for languages; in addition to English spoke Spanish, French, German and Portuguese. His primary love for Spanish and his ability to translate was highly valued in his work in Latin American. He worked with Veterans For Peace, Pastors for Peach, Witness for Peace, and The Nicaragua Covenant of The United Methodist Church. He participated in numerous caravans to Nicaragua, El Salvador, Cuba and Mexico to distribute humanitarian aid, solidarity and hope to the people. He spent a month with US veterans rebuilding a health clinic in Nicaragua that was badly damaged by the Contra rebels. David traveled extensively in El Salvador and Chiapas Mexico offering accompaniment to civilians and exiled combatants as they worked towards negotiating peace. David’s style of accompaniment was recently demonstrated by Rachel Corey in Palestine. This is and was dangerous work. His stature, fair complexion and communications skills saved not only his life but also those he accompanied. Later in El Salvador he helped coordinate the acquisition of secondhand prosthetics for ex-combatants (on both sides) and civilians who lost limbs during the war. He also worked with various cooperatives to encourage the development of fair trade practices.
David was active on the local level as well, bringing speakers to discuss the struggles of our Latin American neighbors. He was an articulate speaker when it came to discussing his concerns about the damaging influence of US policy has had on Central America, Cuba, and the Middle East. He was a member of the Southeastern Connecticut Coalition for Peace and Justice. As a member of the Statue Advisory Committee he worked along side Pequots and other Native Americans to permanently remove the Captain John Mason Statue in Groton. He was also involved with the Citizens Regulatory Commission in hopes that nuclear energy would be produced, managed and disposed of under safer standards. David was a prolific contributor to editorial pages of various newspapers.
David’s other interests included fresh and saltwater fishing, lobstering, claming, U-Conn basketball, attending the Big East tournament, hiking, bee-keeping, bow-hunting, biking, x-country skiing, celebrating the winter solstice, laughing with friends and playing with grandchildren. He was an inspiration to many and will be dearly missed.
There will be a celebration of David’s life and work at the end of April. Anyone interested in attending is encouraged to contact family members. In lieu of flowers please send contributions in his memory to; Interreligious Foundation for Community Organizations 402 W. 145th Street, New York, NY 10031; Veterans For Peace 438 No. Skinker, St. Louis, MO 63130 or Doctors Without Borders 6 E. 29th Street, 8th floor, New York NY 10016.